The little mare shook her head like a child shaking off sleep, and pranced on his palm with her painted hooves.
Even today, you can find conspiracy theorists who believe that the Arctic harbors alien spacecraft, for example, or that an international military alliance has covered up the existence of a tropical island at the South Pole.
The worlds of popular fiction and literary fiction often look with jealousy and annoyance at each other.
The cold hard hearts of gods / despise / the lickspittle loyalty of dogs
"You show me a cosmonaut who doesn't have nightmares, you're showing me someone with no imagination. We all have 'em, we just don't talk about it."
